{"id":634,"date":"2010-01-12T09:05:54","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T14:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/?p=634"},"modified":"2010-12-29T10:41:19","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T15:41:19","slug":"self-mastery-tip-optimizing-self-esteem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/634\/self-mastery-tip-optimizing-self-esteem","title":{"rendered":"Self-Mastery Tip: Optimizing Self-Esteem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Experiencing the extremes of low self-esteem (sometimes referred to as &#8220;self-doubt&#8221;) and over-blown self-esteem (sometime referred to as &#8220;arrogant pride&#8221;) can decrease our ability to relate to ourselves, others and our environment in realistic, effective and satisfying ways.\u00a0 The more we can dwell in between these extremes (sometimes thought about as a state of self-confidence mixed with awareness of one&#8217;s limitations), the more influence we have over our thoughts, feelings and behaviors.<\/p>\n<p>Optimized self-esteem is often brought about by affirming our strengths (without overestimating them) while simultaneously understanding our weaknesses (without allowing our awareness of weaknesses to influence us to underestimate our worth as people).\u00a0 Here are some methods people have used to promote a balance between self-doubt and arrogant pride:<!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>To help balance out self-doubt, get in touch with your &#8220;Fueling Forces.&#8221; <\/strong>Fueling Forces are activities, places or people that help you feel physically and\/or emotionally stronger.\u00a0 It can be helpful to identify what fuels you and goal-set to be around these forces more frequently.<\/li>\n<li><strong>To help balance out arrogant pride, become more aware of your weaknesses and embrace them.<\/strong> Imperfections are often what help ground us and connect us to others while continuously motivating us to continue to learn new ways to improve.\u00a0 It can be useful to identify 3-5 areas of weakness in ourselves in order to stay aware that we are not perfect (like everyone else) and to become comfortable expressing these imperfections to others when appropriate.\u00a0 This can help promote a culture of genuineness or candor in our personal and professional lives.<\/li>\n<li><strong>To stay balanced: Stay aware of areas of strength and areas of imperfection and affirm both regularly.<\/strong> It can be helpful to keep a list of areas where we are strong and areas where we have significant limitations.\u00a0 These lists are likely to change over time (and with attention and training), but the balance between self-doubt and arrogant pride doesn&#8217;t have to.\u00a0 There will always be areas where we are strong and areas where we do not excel.\u00a0 Staying aware of that fact can help optimize self-esteem and keep us grounded in reality (and connected to ourselves and others, too).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>An important note about these sorts of exercises: <\/strong>It can be critical to be very careful to avoid punishing candor in the areas above (for example, calling ourselves &#8220;weak&#8221; or &#8220;big-headed&#8221; while performing the exercises).\u00a0 If we use any of the strengths or weaknesses we become aware of against ourselves (or others, if we are doing this in a group format), it can actually serve to hurt the chances that we will be honest in the future.\u00a0 This is why I often recommend using the exercises listed above in conjunction with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/625\/self-mastery-tip-cultivate-your-peace-of-mind\" target=\"_blank\">exercises to promote &#8220;Peace of Mind.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTE TO THOSE USING THE MISSION FULFILLMENT SYSTEM:<\/strong> You can work toward optimizing your self-esteem by adding a new Objective to your system by using the  \u201cAdd New Item\u201d link (for example, \u201cOptimize my self-esteem\u201d).\u00a0 You can then  develop a SMART Goal related to that new Objective by using the \u201cAdd Subitem\u201d  link to the far right of the new Objective (for example, \u201cMake a list of my strengths and limitations and reflect on it weekly without judging myself harshly.\u201d).<br \/>\n<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT ON THE MISSION FULFILLMENT SYSTEM: <\/strong><a href=\"..\/..\/tracking_execution.php\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to for more  information and <a href=\"..\/..\/contact.php\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to sign  up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FINAL NOTE:<\/strong> If you were linked to this article by a video or  email, please return to that link and proceed with any other instructions that  you deem helpful.\u00a0\u00a0For more Execution Excellence tips and tools visit our site  at: <a href=\"..\/..\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.excellenceuniversity.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experiencing the extremes of low self-esteem (sometimes referred to as &#8220;self-doubt&#8221;) and over-blown self-esteem (sometime referred to as &#8220;arrogant pride&#8221;) can decrease our ability to relate to ourselves, others and our environment in realistic, effective and satisfying ways.\u00a0 The more we can dwell in between these extremes (sometimes thought about as a state of self-confidence [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":637,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions\/637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}